Chapter 14. Trainer is Running?
(FYI, Mejiro Dober run for 2001's UAE 2000 Guineas while Teio run for 1999's Dubai Turf Classic)
"Considering that now?"
Admire Vega's eyes widened. She really hadn't expected her Trainer to have such leisure at this moment.
"Well~" Shuta An shrugged. "Now that Teio is on track, I feel like I can start thinking about this."
"I don't care."
Admire Vega could only respond simply—the success to be celebrated at the celebration wasn't her contribution, so Admire Vega felt it didn't matter where it was.
Unable to get an answer from Admire Vega, Shuta An simply turned his gaze back to the big screen,
"Behind them, Fruit of Loves and Nedawi are starting to adjust their stride, preparing to sprint."
"What about Teio-senpai?"
Admire Vega's heart tightened at Shuta An's words.
"Compared to the two of them, Teio had already started preparing to sprint after entering the straight on the opposite side of the stands."
The young man's tone was relaxed.
—
In Tokai Teio's mind, the "Silence Suzuka" ahead had already begun to show signs of losing speed.
According to her settings, the "Silence Suzuka" in front would drastically lose speed just as she was about to turn out of the final straight, coming to a complete stop when there were 200 meters left to the finish line.
"This way I can accelerate in time."
She thought so, but Tokai Teio's body instinctively began to adjust, ready to accelerate sharply into a sprint at any moment.
For Tokai Teio, who was leading for the first time, the feeling of not getting any slipstream from the start until now, and having to run against the wind resistance herself, was unfamiliar. But at this moment, she provisionally considered herself to have entered the stage of pulling away from the pack in a senko tactic.
"Next is to maintain this position and rush to the finish line."
Sule's gaze was no longer on the Uma Musumes he trained. He was intently focused on Tokai Teio's figure, wanting to see what kind of performance Japan's Undefeated Triple Crown Uma Musume, debuting on the world stage, would deliver.
However, as Tokai Teio cruised through the bend, Sule was a little disappointed, because it was obvious that Fruit of Loves and Nedawi behind her were both accelerating to catch up, yet Tokai Teio still showed no reaction.
Although her face didn't show an expression of exhaustion, Sule vaguely felt that Tokai Teio should be at her limit—
"Undefeated Triple Crowns all have their pride. Would Tokai Teio be so indifferent to being caught up by an opponent? Unless she no longer had a way to respond."
But when Fruit of Loves shortened the distance between herself and Tokai Teio to one length, Sule's mouth opened wide enough to swallow a goose egg whole—
"Ah?!!!"
Many others were as flustered as Sule, and many Trainers in the restricted area showed the same expression—except for Shuta An.
Admire Vega covered her mouth, her expression equally shocked.
A thunderous roar erupted from the stands.
The source of it all was Tokai Teio, who had been leading the pack from the very beginning.
"TOKAI TEIO STARTS TO ACCELERATE! FRUIT OF LOVES CLOSES THE DISTANCE BUT CAN'T ADVANCE FURTHER! SHE'S EVEN STARTING TO BE LEFT BEHIND AGAIN!"
The live commentator shouted.
The Green Channel commentator also started yelling,
"TOKAI TEIO ALLOWS NO ONE TO GET CLOSE! AFTER FRUIT OF LOVES ISSUED A CHALLENGE, THE UNDEFEATED TRIPLE CROWN IMMEDIATELY RESPONDED! NO ONE CAN CHALLENGE TOKAI TEIO AND RECEIVE A WEAK RESPONSE! NO ONE!"
The commentators from various TV stations in the commentary box were all shouting, but the situation on the track was far less perilous than their tone suggested.
After Tokai Teio turned into the final straight, the illusion of "Silence Suzuka" immediately entered a state of deceleration, and she swiftly lengthened her stride, lowered her center of gravity, and sharply increased her speed—this moment happened to coincide with Fruit of Loves catching up to one length behind Tokai Teio.
It looked as if Fruit of Loves closing in triggered Tokai Teio's counterattack, but it was actually just a coincidence.
As Tokai Teio entered her sprint, her imagined "Silence Suzuka" gradually became fragmented, because the current Tokai Teio needed this phantom running in front of her less and less.
And Tokai Teio slowly dispelled her illusion, gradually focusing her attention on herself. After the illusion, which she used to "mistake" herself for being in the lead, disappeared, this attention wasn't scattered elsewhere, but returned entirely to Tokai Teio.
It could be said that the Undefeated Triple Crown Uma Musume had never been as focused in any previous race as she was today.
It was as if the world had narrowed to the width of this racetrack, as if only her own existence remained in the entire world, as if her attention had transformed into an invisible sharp blade, piercing through the unseen wind resistance before her.
"I feel like I can go even further!"
This thought surfaced in Tokai Teio's mind.
But she held back. Because she remembered the warning issued by her Trainer.
At this moment, Tokai Teio's attention was somewhat diverted. She realized she couldn't hear the footsteps behind her. Only her own footsteps were clearly audible, as if she alone were running on the Meydan Racecourse turf track.
"Based on experience, this only happens when a certain distance has been opened up."
So she turned her head to look behind her—
When Tokai Teio entered sprint mode, if reality were a game, Shuta estimated that Tokai Teio would have various buffs appearing on her.
In just 50 meters, Fruit of Loves and Nedawi, who were also sprinting, were left three lengths behind by Tokai Teio. Even more terrifying was that Tokai Teio could clearly maintain this speed for a good distance, even until the finish line.
Shuta An had already heard several Trainers in the restricted area emit piercing wails.
Who wouldn't want to win this race?
But seeing Tokai Teio deliver such a performance even when running the lead for the first time, several European Trainers had already vowed in their hearts that they would make sure their Uma Musumes avoided races Tokai Teio entered in the future—of course only in this kind of track.
"This is simply not an opponent one can contend with; she's even more terrifying than Mejiro Dober."
But something even more terrifying happened when Tokai Teio had 200 meters left to the finish line. The Undefeated Triple Crown Uma Musume, already far ahead of her opponents, even had the leisure to look back like an archer at the moon, observing how far her opponents had been left behind.
"TOKAI TEIO EVEN STARTS TO LOOK BACK AT HER OPPONENTS! BUT THERE'S NO PROBLEM! THE CURRENT LEAD IS ALREADY ENOUGH TO DECLARE VICTORY PREMATURELY!"
"OH-OH! TOKAI TEIO! IS SHE ALREADY STARTING TO CELEBRATE?!"
"TOKAI TEIO IS WANTONLY SHREDDING THE PATHETIC CONFIDENCE OF HER OPPONENTS BEHIND HER. SHE CAST A DISDAINFUL GLANCE BACK, AS IF TELLING THEM THAT CHOOSING TO ENTER THIS YEAR'S DUBAI SHEEMA CLASSIC WAS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF THEIR TWINKLE SERIES CAREERS!"
Shuta An shook his head. While Tokai Teio's performance wasn't a mistake, he felt that her doing so was a distraction.
"Being distracted today is certainly not a problem, but this kind of situation cannot happen in future races," the young man mused. "If she can't maintain a state of complete focus and concentration, trying to master the 'Zone' is basically a pipe dream."
The requirements of the "Zone" would put a burden on her body, but Shuta An knew that if Tokai Teio wanted to achieve her greatest dream, then the "Zone" was a "weapon" she would inevitably have to encounter.
"I'll mention it to her later," he thought.
—
"Now, I'll maintain this speed all the way to the finish line,"
She thought, continuing to chase towards the finish line.
Sule looked at Tokai Teio's figure on the big screen, watching the image gradually move away from the racetrack, changing from a close-up to a wide shot, and made a quick estimate.
"Tokai Teio should be 6 lengths ahead of Nedawi."
Upon reaching this conclusion, Sule unexpectedly felt no resentment. If it had only been one or two lengths, he might have thought that if he had carefully planned tactics for Nedawi before the race, he might have won, but the gap had already widened to such an extent that no amount of pre-race instruction could remedy it. Such self-consoling words would only seem more ridiculous.
Sule could hear Mark Johnston, Fruit of Loves's Trainer, complaining beside him,
"Tsk, why is this guy in Dubai? Go swim in Longchamp in the second half of the year, you bastard!"
"Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe?" Sule knew what "swimming" meant. "Tokai Teio, will she go to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe?"
Sule knew he had to ask Shuta An for the answer to this question.
—
When Tokai Teio had 50 meters left to the finish line, she turned her head to look towards the side of the track—according to habit, her Trainer would definitely appear at the stands by the finish line.
Then Tokai Teio spotted Shuta at a glance. The young man was smiling as he looked at Tokai Teio.
With that gaze across the distance, Tokai Teio's heart fluttered. She waved in Shuta An's direction, and her speed quickly dropped.
But everything else was irrelevant. Tokai Teio knew she didn't need to worry about anything else. She wore a brilliant smile and leisurely crossed the finish line with ease.
Fruit of Loves, however, had no such luxury; she just gritted her teeth and sprinted head-on, barely closing the gap between them to 4 and half a lengths during the brief moment Tokai Teio decelerated.
"TOKAI TEIO CROSSES THE FINISH LINE! THE UNDEFEATED TRIPLE CROWN'S WORLD DEBUT IS A RESOUNDING SUCCESS!"
Shouted the Green Channel commentator.
The local commentator at the scene was far more excited than him,
"UNBELIEVABLE! TOKAI TEIO, IN HER FIRST RACE OUTSIDE OF JAPAN, DELIVERED A HISTORIC PERFORMANCE. WITHOUT A DOUBT, THIS IS THE STRONGEST IN JAPANESE HISTORY! ALL UMA MUSUMES OF THE WORLD! TURN YOUR EYES TO MEYDAN RACECOURSE TONIGHT! THIS WILL BE THE FIGURE YOU WILL CONSTANTLY SEE FROM NOW ON! THE TRUE ACE OF TEAM SADALSUUD!"
When Tokai Teio and Shuta An made eye contact, the young man's lips curled into a smile. Admire Vega keenly noticed this.
"To be able to interact with Trainer so easily, Teio-senpai is incredibly strong,"
Admire Vega thought rapidly.
"Sure enough, I also need to work hard to become that strong."
Shuta An didn't think about what Admire Vega was contemplating. He turned around by himself, bowed deeply towards the stands, then, with a smile, took off his hat and performed a hat-off salute in another direction.
"Let's go," he said to Admire Vega after all that. "First, we'll pick up Teio, then I'll go for an interview. You wait for me here, and we'll go watch the Winning Live later."
"Okay," Admire Vega responded—there wasn't much else to say.
—
The Trainer and Uma Musume arrived at the exit of the underground passage. A few minutes later, Tokai Teio, after exchanging brief pleasantries with her competitors on the racetrack, arrived.
"Trainer!" Like a swallow returning to its nest, Tokai Teio almost crashed into the young man's arms. "How was my performance today!"
"Absolutely fantastic! It could be said to be the best performance by a Uma Musume from Team Sadalsuud in Dubai,"
Shuta An praised her with full sincerity.
"A wonderful surprise. Even though it was your first time in the lead, you executed the appropriate tactics perfectly, leaving all your opponents far behind. Teio is truly a genius."
"Of course!" Tokai Teio looked up. "I imagined a fake Suzuka-senpai leading the race, so I could pretend I was still in a senko position."
"Teio is so clever,"
Shuta An said with a smile, ruffling her head again.
When Admire Vega heard Tokai Teio's description, her pupils contracted—she remembered clearly that her Trainer had just described such a solution, and she hadn't expected her senior to actually do it.
"Trainer can even think of this—should I say Trainer is amazing, or Teio-senpai is amazing?"
Admire Vega was unsettled.
"Can I really be like my seniors?"
For a moment, Admire Vega couldn't give herself a positive opinion.
"Get some good rest. Ayabe-chan and I will be waiting below the stage to enjoy Teio's Winning Live," Shuta An said with a smile, releasing Tokai Teio.
"Look forward to it! I'll be singing a new song on stage!"
Tokai Teio gave a thumbs-up.
—
Shuta An had something very important to do.
Since it was the Dubai World Cup Race Day, the Dubai World Cup was naturally the most important race.
Before the Dubai World Cup officially began, while the participating Uma Musumes had not yet entered their exhibition segment, the Trainers who had signed up for the Trainer 1000-meter run changed into their sportswear, ready to compete.
"Everyone also needs to go up on the exhibition stage," a Staff Miss from Meydan Racecourse kindly reminded them.
"Huh?" Shuta An was startled and asked, "We're just casually running. Do we also need to go on the exhibition stage?"
"Yes, this was stated before the race. Mr. Shuta, didn't you read it carefully?"
The Staff Miss tilted her head, a little puzzled.
"I really didn't read it. I threw it aside after signing up," Shuta An shrugged. "Never mind, if I have to go on the exhibition stage, so be it. I've seen it so many times anyway, I know what to do by just imitating."
"How good is Mr. Shuta at running?"
Sule, who had also signed up, asked with a smile.
"I've never won a race against my family since I was little," Shuta An turned his head and said truthfully, "and I've never won a race against outsiders either. I'm pretty bad."
Upon hearing this answer, Sule, who was not good at sports, breathed a sigh of relief,
"With Mr. Shuta accompanying me, I feel much more at ease."
After hearing Sule's comment, Shuta An didn't know whether he should clarify things with him.
The young man had indeed never won a running race against his family, but his father never participated, meaning he only raced against his mother, Allez France.
As for races against outsiders—his opponents were mainly the Uma Musumes from his father's team, including Secretariat. As for the academy sports days since he was little, he never participated in track events, mainly focusing on long jump, where he was undefeated within the academy.
"If Sule gets anxious later, there's nothing I can do,"
Shuta An thought.
Soon, the exhibition segment for the participating Trainers was also about to begin.
Shuta An was assigned to starting gate 5, so he was the fifth to go on stage.
After Johnston, who was ahead, stepped off the exhibition stage, the young man noticed his flushed cheeks. Shuta An wasn't surprised, as for all the Trainers, standing on the exhibition stage and greeting the audience was a first.
He couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't feel as shy as Johnston once he got on stage.
Shuta An ascended the steps one by one, and with each step, more of the panoramic view of the stands came into his sight.
"So this is the perspective Oguri, Suzuka, Dober, and Teio have when they stand on the exhibition stage,"
The young man mused.
When he actually stepped onto the exhibition stage, Shuta An collected his thoughts. He put on a very professional smile, glanced at the stands, and raised his arm to wave.
"STARTING GATE 5! TONIGHT'S BIG WINNER! THE TRAINER OF MEJIRO DOBER, WINNER OF THE DUBAI TURF, AND TOKAI TEIO, WINNER OF THE DUBAI SHEEMA CLASSIC, SHUTA AN! THIS IS ALSO HIS FIRST PUBLIC RUN. ALTHOUGH OGURI CAP, THE LEGENDARY UMA MUSUME OF TEAM SADALSUUD, MENTIONED IN AN INTERVIEW THAT SHUTA AN'S RUNNING LEVEL IS GOOD, EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW WHAT 'GOOD' MEANS! WE HOPE HE CAN DELIVER A PERFORMANCE THAT SATISFIES EVERYONE TODAY!"
The commentator's voice was drowned out by the cheers from the stands, so no one here heard it too clearly. However, even though the audience in the stands mostly heard it clearly, no one had any high hopes for Shuta An's performance.
"Being able to train amazing Uma Musumes doesn't mean you're good at running yourself. The human 1000-meter record is 2 minutes 11.96 seconds. It would be impressive if these Trainers could run it in 2 and a half minutes,"
This was the common view among the audience.
The so-called Trainer's race was just for novelty; no one expected to see anything spectacular.
A total of 18 Trainers signed up for this race, filling all the starting gates. Shuta An, as the runner starting from gate 5, entered the starting gate very early. However, this also made it easier for him to adjust his condition.
For his shoes, Shuta An chose a pair of soccer cleats, as the track was grass, not synthetic. He felt that soccer cleats would perform better on this type of surface. Other Trainers had their own plans; Shuta An even saw Johnston, starting from gate 4, wearing a pair of boots.
"Could it be that everyone else, except me, plans to create some showmanship to entertain the audience, and only I'm taking it seriously?"
Shuta An thought a lot in that instant when he noticed Johnston's detail.
But he quickly noticed his colleague in the outermost lane entering the starting gate, and the young man refocused, preparing for the start.
—
A "click!" sounded. Some Trainers were momentarily stunned, while others immediately sprinted out—Shuta An was naturally the latter.
Having personally trained the Uma Musumes of Team Sadalsuud for their starting gate exits, Shuta An was very familiar with the sound of various countries' starting gates opening. So, when the "click" sounded, Shuta An immediately took off running.
"OMG!"
In just a few strides, Johnston and Barry, who started from gate 6, cursed simultaneously.
Because Shuta An's speed was too fast, completely exceeding their understanding of "human running." The wind stirred up by the young man even made Johnston think that the young colleague starting next to him was an Uma Musume.
However, Shuta An actually didn't intend to go all out.
Do you remember his assessment of his own running ability?
"Even at full effort, I would still lose to a short-distance Uma Musume."
Although the Uma Musume he competed against had won the Breeder's Cup Turf Classic.
Shuta An hadn't been interested in signing up for the race before because he knew he would definitely win if he participated. However, to avoid injury, the young man still planned to hold back.
But even holding back, Shuta An's speed still surpassed the imagination of all the Trainers on the racetrack.
"If Shuta wasn't a man, I'd really think this guy was actually an Uma Musume disguised with fake ears,"
Sule, wide-eyed, thought to himself.
The Trainer 1000-meter race used Meydan Racecourse's super-long straight, a completely straight course. So there was no need to consider any cornering techniques; Shuta An only needed to sprint head-on.
Having already thought this through, he didn't concern himself with stamina distribution or tactical strategies. He ran increasingly diagonally outwards, treading on the progressively drier grass. Although Shuta An had no intention of speeding up, he did feel increasingly relaxed as he ran.
"UNBELIEVABLE! SHUTA AN HAS PASSED THE 600-METER MARK! THE CURRENT TIME IS JUST 1 MINUTE AND 12 SECONDS! THIS TIME HAS ALREADY BROKEN THE MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD WORLD RECORD! BUT IT SEEMS SHUTA AN IS STILL LOOKING RELAXED! ARE THE TRAINERS OF MONSTERS ACTUALLY MONSTERS THEMSELVES?!"
The live commentator shouted.
—
"He runs too well, doesn't he?"
Miesque sat on the sofa, exclaiming, and at the same time, she looked at Secretariat, who was sitting nearby,
"Did you know he could run so well?"
"Of course." Secretariat took a sip of red wine and continued, "When he was seven or eight, he often ran with us, though we always left him far behind using less than thirty percent of our strength."
"That's because it was you all." Miesque's mouth twitched. "But this speed is too terrifying. Isn't he afraid of getting injured?"
"Inheriting his mother's physique, he's naturally not afraid of that, and it's clear Shuta is holding back,"
Secretariat said, completely unconcerned.
"No wonder he asked you West Coast to help research injury recovery. With his physical condition, regular hospitals probably wouldn't be able to treat him well if he got injured,"
Miesque lamented.
"He's just worrying more about the Uma Musumes in his team,"
Secretariat pouted, not agreeing with her friend's sentiment.
—
While the two legendary Uma Musume chatted, Shuta An had already reached the 800-meter marker, with only 200 meters left to the finish line. He simply turned his head to look at his companions behind him.
As a result, each one looked as small as an ant in his field of vision.
But after the live commentator noticed Shuta An's action through binoculars, he became incredibly excited,
"JUST LIKE TOKAI TEIO! SHUTA AN ALSO MADE THE 'LOOKING BACK AT THE MOON' GESTURE! COULD IT BE THAT TOKAI TEIO LEARNED THIS POSE FROM HER TRAINER?!"
"HE'S ALREADY LEFT THE SECOND-PLACE RUNNER WHO KNOWS HOW MANY LENGTHS BEHIND! IT'S ALMOST LIKE PUTTING AN UMA MUSUME AND A NORMAL PERSON ON THE SAME RACETRACK! IT WAS HARD TO IMAGINE BEFORE THE RACE THAT IT WOULD BE SUCH A ONE-SIDED SITUATION!"
"SHUTA AN SPREAD HIS ARMS! EMBRACING THE WIND WALL THAT OBSTRUCTED HIM, YET EVEN SO! NO ONE BEHIND HIM COULD SHORTEN THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THEMSELVES AND SHUTA AN!"
"THE LAST 100 METERS! SHUTA AN CONTINUED TO SLOW DOWN! BUT WE CAN SEE THAT SULE AND JOHNSTON BEHIND HIM HAVE ALMOST STARTED WALKING! IT SEEMS NO ONE CAN THREATEN SHUTA AN ANYMORE!"
While the commentator excitedly described the race, Admire Vega stared at the big screen, looking incredulous.
Before tonight, Admire Vega had always felt that although she was currently the weakest among the Uma Musume in Team Sadalsuud, winning against a normal person like a Trainer would definitely be no problem.
But seeing Shuta Trainer easily shake off all his opponents with his proclaimed less than fifty percent of his strength, Admire Vega vaguely felt that she probably couldn't even beat her Trainer now.
"I'm so weak, I really need to work harder,"
Admire Vega silently felt a sense of crisis in her heart.
Meanwhile, Teio, sitting in the lounge, applied a towel to her foot while looking up at the TV.
"Trainer looks so cool when he runs," she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. "All the opponents were left far behind. I also want to win so exhilaratingly on the racetrack once!!"
At this point, Tokai Teio took out her retrieved phone and searched for the UAE URA Association's official website.
"Let's check the specific data for my Dubai Sheema Classic race," she murmured to herself, "and also prepare some material for when I chat with Trainer later. I'll show off how excellent my performance was in this race!"
On the other side, Mejiro Dober cupped her cheeks with both hands, staring blankly at Shuta An,
"Ann is too amazing! Although I heard Oguri-senpai marvel at him before, I never imagined it would be this level. He can open a gap of over a hundred meters without using full strength—I really want to know if Ann, at full strength, could beat some of the weaker Uma Musumes in the academy!"
However, Mejiro Dober had no intention of asking her lover to compete at full strength against the Uma Musume in the academy later.
"This full-strength mode would definitely put a great strain on Ann's body. Rather than wasting his stamina on the track, I still hope—"
Mejiro Dober thought of her previous promise, and her cheeks quickly grew warm.
Shuta crossed the finish line first, and before doing so, he had already slowed down and reduced his effort to almost a walk.
"THIS IS TEAM SADALSUUD! EVEN THE TRAINER OF TEAM SADALSUUD! IS UNRIVALED ON THE RACETRACK! 2 MINUTES 13 SECONDS 11! ONLY LESS THAN A SECOND SLOWER THAN THE WORLD RECORD! AND THAT'S WITH SUCH RESTRAINED EFFORT! MY GOODNESS, ALL THE TRACK AND FIELD COACHES IN THE WORLD! LOOK AT HIM! A TRUE GENIUS IS ON DISPLAY TONIGHT AT MEYDAN RACECOURSE!"
The live commentator yelled hoarsely.
But Shuta An's expression was calm; inheriting his mother's physique, which was practically a cheat code for ordinary people, winning against his peers on the track was simply too easy. One could say there was no sense of accomplishment or surprise.
"Honestly, it was too easy,"
Shuta An silently grumbled in his heart.
More relaxing than winning the race and taking the prize money, was the news the young man received when he asked a staff member before the interview: he wouldn't need to perform a winning live on stage with Tokai Teio and Mejiro Dober today.
"If they made me perform that, I'd rather immediately change my result to fourth place,"
Shuta An felt only relief in his heart.
As the winner, Shuta An was interviewed once again.
"Having three interviews in a row today, I'm still a bit unaccustomed to it,"
The young man grinned, and the reporters chuckled along.
Thanks to that remark, the atmosphere was much better than the previous two times.
After finishing the interview, Shuta An, returning to the exit of the underground passage, once again met the triumphant Tokai Teio.
"Trainer! Listen to me! My time for the last 1000 meters today! It was super amazing, right?!"
"It was indeed amazing,"
Shuta An listened to the data and nodded repeatedly.
A time of 58 seconds for the last 1000 meters—if that wasn't amazing, then it was hard to imagine what would be.
After receiving a response from her Trainer, Tokai Teio's eyes curved, an expression of great satisfaction.
But then Mejiro Dober also emerged,
"Congratulations, Ann! Winning against the second-place by a full half-minute is truly impressive!"